There was much to talk about at the annual NAPT and NASDPTS conferences. If there was one theme that stood out, it was that of doing things differently. In this economy, with plenty of uncertainty surrounding the midterm elections, school districts and product and service suppliers have no choice but to blaze a new path.

Just days before the event began, EPA and the U.S. Department of Transportation announced an historic proposed rule extending the so-called federal CAFE, or Corporate Average Fuel Economy, standards to medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles. Included in that group are school buses, rolled up under the category of “vocational vehicles,” which also covers refuse trucks and delivery trucks. The pending CAFE standards, promulgated after a memorandum was issued this past spring by President Obama, certainly will help shape the school bus of the future.

The three manufacturers of large school buses — notably Blue Bird, IC Bus and Thomas Built Buses — weighed in on the subject on day two of the NASDTPS annual meeting at the Doubletree Hotel. While the new CAFÉ proposed rule for commercial vehicles will undertake a 60-day comment period, and there will likely be many changes before any regulation is set in stone to increase fuel economy in school buses by 10 percent by 2018, what is known today is that the feds are promoting not only engine modifications but improvements in tire resistance and vehicle body aerodynamics. Ken Hedgecock, vice president of sales, service and marketing at Thomas, said school bus manufacturers will also certainly look at composite materials to reduce vehicle weight and to improve design in concert with the aforementioned objectives. But with it there comes the challenge of making them all work together as a start-stop application. Hedgecock added that Martin Daum, president of parent company Daimler Trucks North America, has already said it will happen. Daum later spoke to NAPT attendees during the Monday morning keynote.

Thomas’ competitors also have plenty of resources to fall back upon. David Harden, assistant vice president of North American Sales at IC Bus, said the industry could see changes in fuel spray patterns in the cylinder, which tests performed by parent company Navistar have already indicated can dramatically improve fuel economy. Meanwhile, Blue Bird’s Roger Howsmon, a senior advisor to company President and CEO Greg Bennett, said Cerberus Capital Management also owns a number of European technology companies that school bus manufacturer can benefit from.